Student Reception, 10:00 to 11:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Fortress Press
A601 & A602, Marriott Marquis
John Kutsko and SAG members will lead a conversation about strategic planning for student members, their involvement in the Society, and their professional development. Information will be shared about continuing this conversation through 2011 and organizing a subsequent conversation at the San Francisco meeting. Join us with your ideas, questions, and enthusiasm!

Cross, Resurrection, and Diversity in Earliest Christianity (S21-312)
Sunday, Nov 21, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: A704 - Marriott Marquis
As our earliest documents, Paul’s letters are crucial for an understanding of Christian origins. In this session, scholars of differing perspectives will explore Paul’s teaching on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the evidence that his letters provide for beliefs regarding Jesus’ resurrection in earliest Christianity. Participants include Elaine Pagels, Todd Still, E. Elizabeth Johnson, James Ware, and Dale Martin.

Deuteronomistic History/Pentateuch (S22-315 and S23-112)
Monday, Nov 22, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM and Tuesday, Nov 23, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: International North - Hyatt Regency and Regency VII - Hyatt Regency
Recent scholars challenge the earlier consensus that the D source left hardly any mark on Genesis-Numbers and that it provided the sole basis and rationale for the Deuteronomistic History. These two sessions bring together various voices from the recent debates in order to reexamine the role of Deuteronomy in different literary and redactional contexts, from Genesis to Kings.

From Dissertation to Publication: Advice from Editors and Authors (S21-212)
Sunday, Nov 21, 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Young scholars face significant pressure as they launch their careers, pressure that includes the often tricky task of publication. In this session, a number of sage editors and authors—those who are intimately involved in and have themselves navigated the task of publication—are at your service. They will discuss converting the dissertation into a marketable book, something that involves more than another proofread.

Hebrews (S20-221)
Saturday, Nov 20, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: International 7 - Marriott Marquis
Fritz Graf, Ohio State University, will be presenting a paper entitled “‘You Have Become Dull of Hearing’: Hebrews 5:11 and the Rhetoric of Conversion” in a session of the Hebrews Group dedicated to the theme “The Literary, Philosophical, and Theological Content and Context of the Book of Hebrews,” on Sunday, November 20, at 1:00 PM (SBL20-221). Dr. Graf is Distinguished University Professor for Greek and Latin and Director of Epigraphy at the Ohio State University. His research deals with aspects of Greek religion, the transformation of the late antique world, and archaic forms of government.

History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism (S22-226)
Monday, Nov 22, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: A701 - Marriott Marquis
Rabbinic Judaism is known to us largely through its own literatures--Mishnah, Tosefta, Tannaitic midrashim, Amoraic midrash-compilations, and the Talmuds. Yet these rich literatures do not exhaust what we can know of the rabbis’ Judaism and its place among Jewish religious expressions in late antiquity. Archaeological evidence as well as literary evidence from Christian and Greco-Roman sources can shed light on opaque intra-Talmudic rabbinic polemics against non-rabbis as well as illuminate aspects of late antique Jewish practice and belief that are not discussed in rabbinic sources. The papers in this session will explore the rabbis in light of this extra-rabbinic evidence and thereby enrich our understanding of the larger context of early rabbinic Judaism.

Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship (S21-227a)
Sunday, Nov 21, 1:00 PM to 2:45 PM
The 2010 Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship has been awarded to C. Kavin Rowe, Assistant Professor of New Testament, Duke University Divinity School for his paper “The Grammar of Life: the Areopagus Speech and Pagan Tradition.” The Achtemeier Award was established through the generosity of tax-deductible gifts to SBL, and the purpose of the award is to stimulate the finest and most penetrating work in New Testament studies.

Qur'an and Biblical Literature (S20-232)
Saturday, Nov 20, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Hanover Hall G - Hyatt Regency
Join prominent scholars of Islam and the Bible as they probe controversial topics surrounding traditional Islamic sources and the use of literary critical methodologies, structural analysis, and conjectural emendations for the study of the Qur’an. These diverse approaches to the “Qur’an as Text” will also debate the provocative contributions of Bellamy, Luxenberg, and Wansbrough. Participants include John Kaltner, Herb Berg, Stephen Shoemaker, Vernon Robbins, Devin Stewart, Gordon D. Newby, and Corrine Carvalho.

Journal of Biblical Literature

The deadline for subscribing to the Journal of Biblical Literature in time to receive the Winter issue (129:4) is fast approaching. We need to receive your subscription by November 15, 2010 to insure that you will receive your copy. You can renew online at www.sbl-site.org , download the subscription form here, or contact our Membership and subscription services department at sblservices@sbl-site.org or call us at 866-727-9955 (toll free within the US) or 404-727-9498.

Institutions and doctoral candidates are seeing a need for future faculty who can not only conduct research but also be effective in the classroom. Teaching certificate programs are springing up to fill that need at public and private institutions across the country. The SBL Annual Meeting will have several sessions on teaching: list of sessions

Every month, we randomly select two members from the pool of those who have filled out the Optional Profile for a free one-year membership. October 2010 winners are:

• Sarah Harris
• Brian Stoffregen

As our privacy policy indicates, we will never divulge information from your profile to a third party. Thank you to all of you who have supplied this optional data. If you have not yet filled in the information (or you would like to update it), you may do so by logging into our website with your SBL Member number and going to the “my profile” tab, which will appear on the left hand side of the screen in the box where you logged in. While you are filling out the Optional Profile, please make sure all of your profile information is up to date!

Call for papers Deadline for the Association of Ancient Historians (AAH) Annual Meeting. The Thematic title of the 2011 meeting is “Adaptation in the Ancient World.” Papers are now solicited in the following areas of inquiry: Maritime interconnectivity in the Mediterranean (Chair, Elizabeth Green, Brock University); Greek and Roman Historiography (Chair, John Marincola, Florida State University); Ancient Political Theory (Chair, Ryan Balot, University of Toronto); Tyranny and Response (Chair, Sian Lewis, University of St. Andrews); New Directions in the History of War (Chair, Lee Brice, Western Illinois University); Swords and Sandals: The Ancient World in Modern Media (Chair, Rachael Goldman, CUNY); Religious Innovation and Empire (Chair, Robert von Thaden, Mercyhurst College); Women and Religion in Greece and Rome (Chair, Michelle Salzman, UCLA) Egypt (Chair, Carlis White, Slippery Rock University); The Ancient Near East (Chair, Cindy Nimchuk, Mercyhurst College); Open panel(s) for strong papers in other categories (Chairs, TBA) More Information

11/5-11/6

Infancy Gospels: Stories and IdentitiesWhile the traditions concerning the birth of Jesus have always figured prominently in culture, art and Christian piety, the so-called "Infancy Gospels" have been somewhat neglected in modern research, being viewed as they are as legendary or belonging to folk literature. The aim of this research seminar is to reconsider the canonical and apocryphal traditions on the infancy of Jesus, taking the themes of the identity embodied in the discourses and the multiple ways of reading the texts (historical, narrative, psychanalitic, feministic, artistic, liturgical readings, aso).
This research program will be held in three sessions in Switzerland in autumn 2010.

Session 2: University of Geneva, 11/05/2010 - 11/06/2010, with Frédéric Amsler, Jean-Claude Basset, Valentina Calzolari, Andreas Dettwiler, Adriana Destro et Mauro Pesce, Christian Grappe, François Rosset, Andrea Taschl-Erber
A previous session was held in September 2010 and the final session is listed in December.
Information on all three sessions: http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/evenfance/

Infancy Gospels: Stories and IdentitiesWhile the traditions concerning the birth of Jesus have always figured prominently in culture, art and Christian piety, the so-called "Infancy Gospels" have been somewhat neglected in modern research, being viewed as they are as legendary or belonging to folk literature. The aim of this research seminar is to reconsider the canonical and apocryphal traditions on the infancy of Jesus, taking the themes of the identity embodied in the discourses and the multiple ways of reading the texts (historical, narrative, psychanalitic, feministic, artistic, liturgical readings, aso).
This research program will be held in three sessions in Switzerland in autumn 2010.

The annual meeting of the Association of Ancient Historians (AAH) will be held at and hosted by Mercyhurst College, Erie PAMore Information

June 2011

6/21- 6/24

Melanesian Association of Theological Schools (MATS) Inaugural Conference
A meeting to reconstitute the Association will be held on the last day of the conference. It is envisaged that the MATS conference will become an annual gathering of educators and postgraduate students from the theological schools of Melanesia and the wider South Pacific.

The conference will provide a scholarly forum for four broad areas of theological enquiry: OLD TESTAMENT, NEW TESTAMENT, THEOLOGY (SYSTEMATIC AND HISTORICAL), and APPLIED THEOLOGY (MINISTRY, ETHICS, MISSIOLOGY). Presenters will be encouraged to submit expanded versions of their papers for publication in the Melanesian Journal of Theology.

There will be an initial call for abstracts in Nov 2010 with registration to follow in Feb-Mar 2011.
MATS 2011 will be held at Pacific Adventist University in Papua New Guinea (located about 20 km from Port Moresby). Thereafter the conference will be hosted by other theological schools in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific islands. For details and further information please contact Scott Charlesworth

6/26- 6/29

Sixth North American Syriac SymposiumDuke University, Durham, North Carolina More information